Bananafish
Member
Hi all. Very long, and I apologize, but I wanted to list as many details as possible. This is a brand new tank that was set up a few weeks ago. I have cycled many tanks in my life and have seen a lot of stuff, but this is a little weird.
Just getting wet again after what turned into an almost 4-year hiatus. Lost my tank after Sandy. We had no power for 2 weeks, and I was not prepared to go that long without power. When I cleaned up, I packed everything with the intention of restarting in January, but that never happened. For almost 4 years, I've had my LR in the basement in a tub of water with heat and powerheads, and I've been feeding it regularly to keep the bacteria alive. I washed sand and filled a 5-gallon bucket that sealed so it would stay moist. The rest of the sand got picked through to remove bodies and then it got a good rinse, but I wouldn't call it "washed". I scraped coralline off the glass and into a little bottle, hoping I would be able to grow it from this dust. Everything else got washed up and left to dry. I've been staring at an empty tank in my living room for all this time.
I started my 55gal back up a few weeks ago. Today is actually Day 18. I half-filled the tank with fresh seawater made from DI and stuck in a powerhead. I let that run a few days, then added all the LR from the basement and filled all the way. I only used a very small amount of water from the rock tub, maybe a gallon. I started up a filter with only foam and another power head. A few days later, my corallines started to grow, and I added all the sand from the bucket. Finally, a few days after that, I hooked up the skimmer. All going well according to plan. But....
Here's the weirdness. I tested at least every other day since I started. I got an NH3/4 spike, but it's now zero for a few days. I expected, because I used "dirty" sand, that I would have a lot of ammonia, but it never went above 0.50ppm. Ten years ago, when I started this same tank with all new sand and uncured LR, ammonia hit 2.0ppm. I NEVER got any NO2 this time, but last time it hit 0.25ppm. Nitrates got as high as 40ppm and are now 15ppm, but last time NO3 was over 80ppm. This is why we keep reef logs
I dunno if maybe I did the right thing with the sand and the rock, but here's what's been confusing me the last few days. If you have ideas I'd love to hear them.
Tuesday, I bought 4 little pieces of new LR (about 3 pounds, scored a few bristles, some feather worms, and a cute little abalone). I bought this because even though my corallines had been growing for over a week, I still had ammonia (0.25ppm) and there was no sign of any worms in the sand (I was hoping some eggs would survive in the dry state, but nope). On Wedneday, I was able to buy about 3 cups of sand from a local LFS that came from a well established tank that (lucky for me) sprang a leak that day and was just in the process of being emptied (scored a boatload of nematodes). I turned off the skimmer and poured the sand into the tank, doing my best to distribute it evenly. Next day (being Thursday, yesterday) I tested everything. My ammonia went from 0.25ppm to zero -- overnight? I retested to be sure, and then I took water down to the LFS for testing because maybe my test was whacky. They got <0.25, but not zero, and all tests were done with new API kits (theirs expires in 2020, mine in 2021). LFS guy sold me a bunch of Cheato (scored a few brittle stars and a boatload of snails) and some Iron supplement. He says, the Cheato needs Iron, plus it will help reduce PO4 (which I had a small amount). This morning, just about 12 hours after added the Cheato and Iron, I tested the water. It was as soon as the lights came on so my pH was "low" at 8.0, but again, no NH3/4, no NO2, NO3 is now 15ppm -- down from 20ppm yesterday -- PO4 is gone. Calcium is holding at 420-ish, and dKH is at 10 (was as high as 16 on the day I installed my rock). I did not take any corrective action even though my pH was down by 0.2 and my dKH was down by 3. I will retest these later and make a decision.
When I packed everything up after Sandy, I expected it would help me shorten the cycle IF I started back up in a few months. Not sure what I really expected after all this time, but it wasn't this. I'm not sure if the tank is half-cycled or half-time cycled. It smells good to me. Water is crystal clear. Skimmer has slowed down production, and skimmate is that cloudy yellowish and not green -- tells me there's no gack in the water column, at least that's what I'm thinking it means. And, I certainly didn't expect to find my corallines growing profusely (signs of a good and complete cycle) for over a week with all that ammonia (which is why I thought the brand new test was bad) and I didn't expect my ammonia to disappear overnight with the addition of 3 cups of "magic" sand on top of the 100+ pounds already in the tank. And, if the ammonia was really that high, the abalone I got on the latest rock would have been dead a few days ago. I don't get it.
Does anybody see something I missed? Do you think it's "safe" to consider it cycled? I'm on the fence with this. The actual numbers and visual cues are telling me I'm in very excellent shape and have managed to fully cycle a "new" tank in less than 3 weeks, but the little guy inside my head is shaking his and saying, "Ask more people what they think this means."
Just getting wet again after what turned into an almost 4-year hiatus. Lost my tank after Sandy. We had no power for 2 weeks, and I was not prepared to go that long without power. When I cleaned up, I packed everything with the intention of restarting in January, but that never happened. For almost 4 years, I've had my LR in the basement in a tub of water with heat and powerheads, and I've been feeding it regularly to keep the bacteria alive. I washed sand and filled a 5-gallon bucket that sealed so it would stay moist. The rest of the sand got picked through to remove bodies and then it got a good rinse, but I wouldn't call it "washed". I scraped coralline off the glass and into a little bottle, hoping I would be able to grow it from this dust. Everything else got washed up and left to dry. I've been staring at an empty tank in my living room for all this time.
I started my 55gal back up a few weeks ago. Today is actually Day 18. I half-filled the tank with fresh seawater made from DI and stuck in a powerhead. I let that run a few days, then added all the LR from the basement and filled all the way. I only used a very small amount of water from the rock tub, maybe a gallon. I started up a filter with only foam and another power head. A few days later, my corallines started to grow, and I added all the sand from the bucket. Finally, a few days after that, I hooked up the skimmer. All going well according to plan. But....
Here's the weirdness. I tested at least every other day since I started. I got an NH3/4 spike, but it's now zero for a few days. I expected, because I used "dirty" sand, that I would have a lot of ammonia, but it never went above 0.50ppm. Ten years ago, when I started this same tank with all new sand and uncured LR, ammonia hit 2.0ppm. I NEVER got any NO2 this time, but last time it hit 0.25ppm. Nitrates got as high as 40ppm and are now 15ppm, but last time NO3 was over 80ppm. This is why we keep reef logs
I dunno if maybe I did the right thing with the sand and the rock, but here's what's been confusing me the last few days. If you have ideas I'd love to hear them.Tuesday, I bought 4 little pieces of new LR (about 3 pounds, scored a few bristles, some feather worms, and a cute little abalone). I bought this because even though my corallines had been growing for over a week, I still had ammonia (0.25ppm) and there was no sign of any worms in the sand (I was hoping some eggs would survive in the dry state, but nope). On Wedneday, I was able to buy about 3 cups of sand from a local LFS that came from a well established tank that (lucky for me) sprang a leak that day and was just in the process of being emptied (scored a boatload of nematodes). I turned off the skimmer and poured the sand into the tank, doing my best to distribute it evenly. Next day (being Thursday, yesterday) I tested everything. My ammonia went from 0.25ppm to zero -- overnight? I retested to be sure, and then I took water down to the LFS for testing because maybe my test was whacky. They got <0.25, but not zero, and all tests were done with new API kits (theirs expires in 2020, mine in 2021). LFS guy sold me a bunch of Cheato (scored a few brittle stars and a boatload of snails) and some Iron supplement. He says, the Cheato needs Iron, plus it will help reduce PO4 (which I had a small amount). This morning, just about 12 hours after added the Cheato and Iron, I tested the water. It was as soon as the lights came on so my pH was "low" at 8.0, but again, no NH3/4, no NO2, NO3 is now 15ppm -- down from 20ppm yesterday -- PO4 is gone. Calcium is holding at 420-ish, and dKH is at 10 (was as high as 16 on the day I installed my rock). I did not take any corrective action even though my pH was down by 0.2 and my dKH was down by 3. I will retest these later and make a decision.
When I packed everything up after Sandy, I expected it would help me shorten the cycle IF I started back up in a few months. Not sure what I really expected after all this time, but it wasn't this. I'm not sure if the tank is half-cycled or half-time cycled. It smells good to me. Water is crystal clear. Skimmer has slowed down production, and skimmate is that cloudy yellowish and not green -- tells me there's no gack in the water column, at least that's what I'm thinking it means. And, I certainly didn't expect to find my corallines growing profusely (signs of a good and complete cycle) for over a week with all that ammonia (which is why I thought the brand new test was bad) and I didn't expect my ammonia to disappear overnight with the addition of 3 cups of "magic" sand on top of the 100+ pounds already in the tank. And, if the ammonia was really that high, the abalone I got on the latest rock would have been dead a few days ago. I don't get it.
Does anybody see something I missed? Do you think it's "safe" to consider it cycled? I'm on the fence with this. The actual numbers and visual cues are telling me I'm in very excellent shape and have managed to fully cycle a "new" tank in less than 3 weeks, but the little guy inside my head is shaking his and saying, "Ask more people what they think this means."
